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Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs S20 Plus

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs S20 Plus

73 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
VS
70 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus (with Exynos 2100) that was released on January 14, 2021, against the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, which is powered by Exynos 9 Octa 990 and came out 11 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments (2)

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
  • Shows 7% longer battery life (30:26 vs 28:25 hours)
  • Comes with 300 mAh larger battery capacity: 4800 vs 4500 mAh
  • 19% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (839K versus 707K)
  • Delivers 11% higher peak brightness (888 against 801 nits)
  • The phone is 11-months newer
  • Faster storage type - UFS 3.1 versus UFS 3.0
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Exynos 2100
  • 23% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1429 and 1159 points
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus
  • 33% higher pixel density (524 vs 394 PPI)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and S20 Plus crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Galaxy S21 Plus
vs
Galaxy S20 Plus

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1440 x 3200 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 394 ppi 524 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 800 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Screen-to-body ratio 88.3% 90.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display 		- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 99.7%
PWM 240 Hz 214 Hz
Response time 6.2 ms 9 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 161.5 mm (6.36 inches) 161.9 mm (6.37 inches)
Width 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) 73.7 mm (2.9 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 7.8 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 200 g (7.05 oz) 186 g (6.56 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Purple Black, Gray, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 2100 Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 990
Max clock 2840 MHz 2700 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 3 cores at 2.81 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X1 		- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A76
- 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Exynos M5
L3 cache - 2 MB
Lithography process 5 nanometers 7 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G78 MP14 Mali-G77 MP11
GPU shading units 896 704
GPU clock 854 MHz 550 MHz
FLOPS ~1530.4 GFLOPS ~1126 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 244088 200722
GPU 269299 194919
Memory 159004 132605
UX 164833 175768
Total score 839148 707030
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 41.5 °C 48.1 °C
Stability 67% 53%
Graphics test 33 FPS 25 FPS
Graphics score 5538 4298
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 8553
Video editing - 5864
Photo editing - 31253
Data manipulation - 8577
Writing score - 12260

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.0
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 1000 GB

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.1 One UI 4.1
OS size 27.2 GB 23.6 GB

Battery

Capacity 4800 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (54% in 30 min) Yes (100% in 84 min)
Full charging time 1:12 hr 1:25 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:17 hr 09:33 hr
Watching video 15:27 hr 13:44 hr
Gaming 05:07 hr 03:54 hr
Standby 101 hr 92 hr
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4000 x 3000
Zoom Optical, 1.1x Optical, 1.1x
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS Up to 24FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP) 4 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP + 0.3 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.76", Sony IMX555 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.76", Samsung S5K2LD (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 64 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0
- Focal length: 28 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 64 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0
- Focal length: 29 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX563 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung S5K2LA (ISOCELL CMOS)
Depth lens - - 0.3 MP
- Aperture: f/1.0
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support 		- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 10 megapixels
Image resolution 3872 x 2592 2592 x 3872
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns 1.22 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/3.2"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display 		- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- USB-Host mode
- OTG 		- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support * Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No Yes
LTE Cat * 24 22
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2021 February 2020
Release date February 2021 March 2020
SAR (head) 0.54 W/kg 0.38 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.33 W/kg 1.57 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint 		- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- Fingerprint
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

These smartphones have a lot in common, but we would recommend the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus . It has a better performance, gaming, and battery life.

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